Trend for owner-occupiers in Onehunga

152 Captain Springs Rd has been occupied by its owner since 1991. Photo / Supplied

Sales and leasing opportunities in the Onehunga and Penrose commercial and industrial market are "far from dead" with three new offerings now being featured, says Paul Rosenberg of Barfoot & Thompson Commercial, who, with colleague Tim Wilson, is reporting good results to date for 2010.

Recent sales by Rosenberg and Wilson include 2 Rowe St and 69 Victoria St in Onehunga, and 12 Fairfax Ave and 92 Mays Rd in Penrose. They have also recently leased space at 685 Great South Rd, 45 O'Rorke Rd and 9 Walls Rd - all in Penrose; and in Onehunga at 6 Rowe St and 130 Onehunga Mall.

"Some interesting trends are starting to emerge," Rosenberg says. "So far all but one of the sales has been to owner-occupiers. The odd one out was a vacant building purchased by an investor who was buying the building to accommodate the growth of a tenant he has in another building - so this too was effectively an owner-occupier purchase situation."

Wilson says the tough task has been finding buildings to suit buyer demand. "Although there is a reasonable amount of vacancy, there is also a shortage of property genuinely available for sale on the market. That which is for sale sees some fairly aggressive competition. For instance, three of the properties above had two buyers vying to purchase at the same time."

Rosenberg says a shortage of investment property sales activity in the Onehunga-Penrose area is simply due to owners being unwilling to sell property that has cash flow.

"The common sentiment being that there is nowhere more attractive to be reinvesting money at present, so unless there are external motivators to sell, owners are holding tight to quality investment stock."

Despite this trend, Barfoot & Thompson Commercial is featuring three properties that are new to the market in the Onehunga-Penrose area at 152 Captain Springs Rd, 275 Onehunga Mall and 30 Angle St.

Rosenberg and Wilson, on behalf of Conquest Imports Properties, are offering a 959.48sq m industrial-commercial building with vacant possession at 152 Captain Springs Rd for sale or lease by deadline private treaty closing at 4pm on Wednesday, May 12.

"This is the first time since 1991 that this property has been offered to the market," Wilson says. "It has been occupied by its owner during the entire time."

The Business 4-zoned building on a freehold site of 893sq m has a Government valuation of $1,130,000 and comprises warehouse with amenities space of 273.76sq m, warehouse space below mezzanine storage of 266.17sq m, mezzanine storage of 253.07sq m and mezzanine offices with amenities of 166.48sq m.

"It offers many different usage options including light manufacturing, storage, a distribution centre, a live-work operation, or for retail showroom use," Wilson says.

"The ground floor is mainly warehouse, the majority of which is set beneath a mezzanine storage deck. The stud height is 4.5 metres to the knee and the front of the building includes a stairwell leading to the mezzanine office floor. The partitioned offices have suspended ceilings around the most part and are supplied with air-conditioning."

The property is on the western side of Captain Springs Rd, a short distance south of its intersection with Church St which, along with Nelson St, forms two major traffic corridors running through Onehunga linking the area to the west with Penrose and the southern motorway to the east.

Connections to the Southern SH1 motorway are at Penrose and Mt Wellington, both of which are within minutes' drive from Captain Springs Rd.

"Downtown Auckland is within a 20-minute drive at most times of the day," Wilson says.

Surrounding properties in Captain Springs Rd are mixed and include a range of small to large warehouses that date from the 1950s, as well as modern industrial units that have been developed within the last 10 years. The area is also characterised by large private industrial holdings including transport operations.

"Based on a recent rental valuation we see the property achieving a total rental of $82,227 per annum plus GST and outgoings," Rosenberg says.

In conjunction with colleague Vanessa Coles, Rosenberg is also offering a two-level office and retail unit-titled building at 275 Onehunga Mall for sale or lease by deadline private treaty closing 4pm on Wednesday, April 28.

The total area of the building, "which appears to have been constructed in the 1950s", is 599sq m.

"The retail component is leased to two separate tenants which return a net annual rental of $70,775," Rosenberg says. Ground-floor retail space of around 205sq m is occupied by the Ultra Cafe while Pacific fashion retailer Mena leases an additional 84sq m at street level.

"Additionally the building has 310 square metres of very smartly refurbished vacant office space on level one that can be leased independently from the sales process."

Zoned Business 2, the building comes with rear accommodation space.

"The anticipated annual net income of the entire building is $120,650," Coles says. "It's the type of property that could appeal to an owner-occupier looking to personally utilise the vacant office space on the top level, while taking advantage of an income from the ground-floor tenants."

"The vacant space on level one would also lend itself to being developed to combine a live-and-work opportunity, while signage opportunities could be offered overlooking Onehunga Mall. The layout consists of largely open-plan space with two good-sized offices and a small kitchenette along with male and female toilets for the exclusive use of the floor.

"The ground-floor space leased to Ultra Café also has a 94sq m two-bedroom accommodation attached, which again presents a live-and-work option to future tenants," Coles says. The apartment has an open-plan kitchen, lounge and dining area and opens out to a concrete yard at the rear.

The building is between Arthur St and Grey St north of the prime retail portion of Onehunga Mall in an area that has undergone considerable growth in recent years.

The third building in the Onehunga-Penrose precinct being featured by the agency is at 30 Angle St which is being offered for sale by negotiation through Mike Jensen.

The property is a high-stud warehouse of 471sq m with a gantry beam in place on a 635sq m freehold site with a easterly aspect to Angle St, Onehunga.

Having a capital valuation of $550,000, it sits on a 635sq m Business 6-zoned site and has excellent amenities of 90sq m to the front of the warehouse consisting of four separate offices and reception area, two toilets, shower and a lunch room split over two levels.

The warehouse contains two 1000kg gantry cranes and a 1000kg gantry crane.

The stud height at the lowest point within the warehouse is 4.7m and security bars are over all windows to the ground level.

Jensen says Angle St adjoins Neilson St to the north and Edinburgh St to the east and has easy access to both the southwestern and southern motorway systems.